Prison Reform Movement

The United States Criminal Justice System is flawed- broken beyond repair. Prisons should be abolished. Treatment and social safety nets could effectively replace what we have in place now. Until society can finally come to terms with no prisons and jails, we will continue to advocate for Prison and Criminal Justice reforms.

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A tale of 2 inmates in California’s Security Housing Units

One man was a petty thief mistakenly identified as a player in a violent Latinoprison gang. The other was a convicted murderer whose numerous assaults behind bars and continuing influence on the streets earned him a reputation as a ruthless gang leader.

The fact that both men were locked for years in grim, windowless isolation cells at Pelican Bay State Prison illustrates the challenge that corrections officials face as they overhaul the state’s controversial Security Housing Units.

Opened in 1989, Pelican Bay was designed to house California’s most dangerous inmates. The prison’s Security Housing Unit goes a step further, locking inmates identified as prison gang members or associates in a warren of concrete cells where the only view of the outside world is framed on small television sets. Some inmates have been housed in the units since Pelican Bay opened its gates.

Corrections officials say the lengthy confinement and extreme security measures are necessary to curb the ability of gang leaders to pass orders to subordinates in other prisons and on the streets. And they point to inmates like Arturo Castellanos to make their case.

Castellanos was convicted of murder in Los Angeles County in 1979 and sentenced to 26 years to life. But his life of crime flourished behind bars, according to prison records.

As an inmate, Castellanos’ disciplinary record includes six stabbings and various drug violations. In 1990, he was sent to Pelican Bay’s Security Housing Unit after corrections officials identified him as a member of the Mexican Mafia prison gang.

In spite of Pelican Bay’s harsh conditions, authorities allege Castellanos continued to command gang members on the street through edicts smuggled out of prison on tiny scraps of paper known as “kites.”

According to a 2007 federal indictment, Castellanos guided a Latino street gang known as F13 as it launched a turf battle against African American rivals. The action triggered a wave of racial violence against African Americans living in the Florence-Firestone area north of Watts, according to court documents. More than 20 people were killed.

“I was just amazed that an individual who no one has seen for generations was able to control the violence and illegal criminal activity of an area that he hasn’t been to in more than three decades,” said Peter Hernandez, an assistant U.S. attorney for California’s Central District.

Federal prosecutors eventually indicted 104 suspects in the case, but not Castellanos. He already was serving a life sentence, and the government concluded it was safer to keep Castellanos in isolation and not pull him out of Pelican Bay for court hearings, which would have been required had he been indicted.

“It was important that … Castellanos not be let out, because he holds sway over gang members to do things they would otherwise not want to do,” Hernandez said.

Since 2006, Castellanos has been housed in a special section of Pelican Bay’s Security Housing Unit that is reserved for inmates deemed influential gang leaders.

But that didn’t stop him and three other inmates from organizing a three-week hunger strike to demand better conditions and changes in department policy.

During a recent media tour, Pelican Bay acting Warden Greg Lewis claimed the four hunger strike leaders, including Castellanos, were in the upper echelons of major prison gangs and continued to pose a serious security threat. Lewis said the men are “intelligent, very manipulative and possess the intellect to orchestrate what they did.”

Michael Montgomery/California Watch Ernesto Lira near his home in Planada, Calif.

While prisoner rights advocates concede that some inmates should be segregated from the regular prison population if they are violent or directly involved in criminal conspiracies, they say the actual number of offenders who fit that criteria is very small.

Not all the inmates locked in the Security Housing Unit are accused of being gang bosses.

Ernesto Lira was serving a sentence for drug possession in a low-security prison when he was sent to Pelican Bay for an “indeterminate” term. Authorities contended Lira was an associate of a violent Latino group known as Nuestra Raza.

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Prison Reform Movement

I am Against the death penalty, believe that the United States Judicial System is flawed, yet fixable; Prison Reform and Sentencing Reform should be major agenda's for each state- we need to stop warehousing prisoners and ready those who are going to parole. I believe in Restorative Justice.
Inmate rehabilitation improves public safety and lowers prison costs.
“We have to care because we can't afford not to".
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One thought on “A tale of 2 inmates in California’s Security Housing Units”

After all is said and done, the only real issue here is “why can’t these groups (gangs) maintain any stability in society from the time they are born. What is it that their child rearing lacks? What is it that society is lacking to help them love life instead of fearing it?

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Prison Reform Movement

The United States Criminal Justice System is flawed- broken beyond repair. Prisons should be abolished. Treatment and social safety nets could effectively replace what we have in place now. Until society can finally come to terms with no prisons and jails, we will continue to advocate for Prison and Criminal Justice reforms.

Posts here are NOT always my work. See disclaimer in the 'about' section. This blog serves as a Public Service Announcement.